Setts



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 C. H. GROCKETT 8u C. C. ALLEN;

ELECTRIC LOCK.

Patented Ap; 19, 1892.

' l Sheetssheet .2; C. H. CROCKETT & C. C.. ALLEN.

' ELECTRIC 1.00K.

16.473,061.. PaJtendApr.1'9,1a92..

(No Model.)

fig?? UNTTED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES H. CROCKETT AND CHANCELLOR C. ALLEN, OE BOSTON, MASSACHU- SETTS,ASSIGNORS TO THE BOSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OE SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC LOCK, l

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 473,061, dated April19,1892.

Application tiled May 5, 1888. Serial No1 272,944. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. CRooK- ETT and CHANCELLOR C. ALLEN, ofBoston, county of Sulolk, and State ot' Massachusetts, have invented anImprovement in Electric Locks, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters and iigures on the drawings representing like parts.

The object of our invention is to produce a door-lock which can beoperated from a distant point by an electricicuit so Yas* to permit theperson at the outside of the door to enter. Locks of this kind areespecially useful fortheouterdoors of apartment-houses,banks,

and ofiices, as they enable a person on anyV floor to admit the personat the door. Locks for this purpose have been made which were intendedto be normally in such condition as to fasten the door so that a personcould not enterunless provided with a key, but which could be set by aperson at a distant point so as to be opened by turning the door-knob atthe outside, and the act of turning the knob and opening the door resetthe lock so that when shut it could not be opened by the next personarriving until again set by the closing of the circuit at a distantpoint. Such locks are objectionable for the reason that when once set soas to permit a person to enter if the person should for some reason notenter the lock would remain set and 'thedoor thus unfastened, so that anunauthorized person might subsequently enter, and it is impossible inlocks of this kind to know Whether or not the lock is in such conditionas to fasten the door.

The present invention is embodiedin a lock which may be placed by theaction of an electro-magnet in condition to permit the door to beopened, but if the door is not opened will cause the door to be fastenedagain the moment the condition ot' the magnet is changed, or, in otherwords, when the magnet is restored to its normal condition.

The invention consists, mainly, in details of construction, to behereinafter described, in a lock which contains the usual knob-operatedspring-bolt, and also a two-part bolt having a projecting bevel-facedend which is pivoted with relation to the shank portion of the bolt sothat the said bolt may be retired into the lock-case by the pivotalmovement ot' the proj ecting end relative to the shank portion or by thesliding motion of the shank portion, while the pivoted end is restrainedfrom pivotal movement with relation thereto. This twopart bolt isintended to be operated, with its sliding movement, by the kusuallatch-key inserted from the outside; but. otherwise than this a personat the outside of the door is unable to produce the sliding movement ofthe bolt and can only be admitted by the ret-ireinent of the projectingend of the bolt by its pivotal movement with relation to the shankportion. The pivotal movement is controlled by a bolt-holder consistingof a two-armed vlever pivoted on the shank portion of the bolt andhaving one arm normally in Vposition to engage the pivoted end of thebolt so as to prevent its pivotal movement. An electro-magnet fastenedin the case ot' the lock is provided with an armature pivoted independ-4ently of said bolt-holding lever, but in such position that when movedby the attractionof the armature it engages the other arm of thebolt-holding lever than the one engaged with the bolt end, and turns thesaid lever on its pivot,y so that the arm normally engaged with the boltend is for-the time being-that is, so long as the magnetremains-energized-disengaged therefrom, so as to permit pivotal movementof the bolt end, by which it may be retired into the lock-case, so as topermit the door to be pushed open.

A person at the outside ofl the door will turn the usual knob, throwingback one bolt, but will be unable to open the door until the obstructionto the pivotal or yielding move# ment of the other bolt is removed, whenhe will be able to push the door open. The controllingnmagnet is, asshown in the instance, in normally-open circuit and is lenergized toremove the obstruction to the yielding portion ot' the bolt; but themoment the magnet is again demagnetized the obstruction 'returns and thebolt is again fastened or rendered unyielding. It follows that themagnet must be retained energized until the person has pushed the dooropen; and the inven- IOO tion further consists in the combination, withthe lock and its controlling magnet and circuit, of y an indicator ateach of the points where the circuit ot' the magnet is controlled, whichshows by the change of condition in the circuit produced by opening `thedoor when the door has ,been opened, sothat the person operating thecircuit-closer will know when the person at the door has been admittedand that the magnet may be restored to its normal condition.

Figure l is a side elevation of a door-lock embodying this inventionwith the side plate of the inclosing case removed; Fig. 2, a sectionalview showing the two-part bolt and cooperating device in plan view; Fig.8, a detail showing a portion of the faceof the lock as seen lookingtoward the edge of the door;

Fig. 4, a sectional detail on line .fr of Fig. I, showing the operationof the yielding portion of the two-part bolt; Fig. 5', a section on liney, Fig. 2ot` the electrically-controlled bolt; Fig. 6, a diagram showingthe circuit by which the electro-magnet that controls the lock isoperated and the opening of the door indicated tothe person' thatcontrols the circuit, and Fig. 7 a detail illustrating the position ofvthe bolts with relation to the openings or sockets in' thestriker-plate. Y

The operative parts of the lock are inclosed in a case a, which is shownas mortised into the doorv in the usual manner, the face a.

standing inthe edge of the door and the bolts projecting from the saidface to engage a striker-plate ori the' door-jamb in the usual manner.The said lock is provided with a two-part bolt b b', the portion Z) ofwhich is contained wholly within the case a and is acted upon by a'spring c, bearing at one end against a stationary projection a2 in thelockcase' and tending to throw the entire bolt b b Afo'ryiiard, so as tokeep the portion b projecting from the face a of the lock in theposition to engage the striker-plate and fasten the door in the usualmanner. The ,projecting end b of the bolt is beveled in the usualmanner,as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and thus` causes the entire bolt h toslide back against the stress oi:` the spring c, when the door is closedin the usual manner. The projecting portion b is pivoted, as shown atb2, Fig. 2, in the inner portion b, so that it can be turned back into arecess 612 in the inner portion b, as shown in Fig. 4, in which positionthe portion b will not project beyond the face a of the lock, andconsequently will not hold the door, although the portion b may be inits most forward position.` A spring b3 tendsto turn the portion Z9 ofthe bolt into its normal position in which it projects fro'mthe face ofthe lock, as shown in Figs. l and2; but said spring is insufiicienttohold the 4portion b in this position against a moderate `pressuretending to turn it tothe position shown in Fig. It. The portion b ofthebolt is,however, normally held inthe position with relation to theportion b'(shown in Figs. 1 and 2) by a brace or holder d, shown in thisinstanceA as consisting of an arm pivoted at d upon the main or internalportionvb of the bolt and eX- tending so as to enga-ge a shoulder Z213on the portion b', so as to prevent the said portion b from turning onits pivot b2 to the position shown in Fig. 4: as long as the arm dremains in the position shown in full lines in Fig. l,

and consequently so long as the holder d rel mains in such position thebolt b fastens the door unless the entire bolt b b is thrown backagainst the actionfof the springe.

The entire boltb b cannot be thrown back by a person at the outside ofthe door except by a key inserted in the key-hole, (indicated indottedlines at e, Fig. 1,) the said key operating on the usual tumblerse", which are properly raised up by the key as it is turned, after whichthe key acts upon a lever e2, pivoted at e3, which, by its engagementwith a shoulder b4, throws the entire bolt b b back, thus withdrawingthe end b by a sliding movement in the usual manner.

In order to enable a person at a distant point to admit the person atthe outside of the door not having a key, such as last referred to, thelock is provided with an electro-magnet f, having an armature f', whichwhen the said magnet is energized acts on an arm d2 of the bolt-holderd, moving the vsaidl holder to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig.l, so that it no longer engages the shoulder 1713 and obstructs theyielding movement of the portion b'-of the lb'olt,so that if the dooriis otherwise unfastened and pushed slightly by the person at theoutside, the portion vb of the bolt willturn aside as shown in Fig. 4,-perlmitting the door to open; but it the door should not be opened themoment the mag'- net f is demagnetized the holder d will return to itsnormal position by the action lof gravi ty, assisted, if required, by aspring d3,

and will thus again obstruct or prevent the IOC IIC

yielding movement of the portion b of'fthe i bolt. Y

Thearmature f of the magnet fis shown as pivoted at its upper end, sothat it normally hangs in retracted position by th'eaction of gravity,and some space is left between it andthe teo-operating portion of the'holder, so that when the magnet is energized the armature will move andstrike against the holder instead of merely pressing against it, thusinsuring the release of Vthe holder, even if the person is pressingagainst the door, and thus forcing the shoulder Z913 ot' the bolt withconsiderable pressure against the end of the holding-arm d.

The entire bolt b b may be operated with its sliding movement by meansof a knobor handle g (see Fig. 2) at the inside of the door, the spindleg ot' which (see Fig'. I) is provided with an arm ortinger g2, thatbears against a shoulder b5 on the bolt, so that when the said handle gis turned the entire bolt b b will be' thrown lback vwith its slidingmovement against the stress of the spring c. This one bolt l) b issufficient to constitute an effective lock for the door; but it isdesirable to employ in addition a second bolt h, acted upon by a springh and operated by a lever t', that engages a shoulder h2 on said boltand is itself operated by a T-shaped hub t2, operated by the usualsquared knob-spindle 3 at the outside of the door, and also at theinside, if desired.

The spring h' of the bolt hbears at one end against the stationaryprojection d2, which also serves to limit the forward movement of bothbolts, and the projection h3 of the bolt h is engaged with a shoulder h6of the bolt b in such manner that the said bolt b cannotbe slid back toun fasten the door without'also 1 carrying the bolt h with it, so thatthe single operation of turning the key, before described, at theoutside of the door or of turning the handle g at the inside of thedoor, Will throw back both bolts with their sliding movement and thuspermit the door to be opened as with common latch-bolts. The turning ot'the knob, on the other hand, will throw back the bolt 7L by the actionof the hub vi? and lever i, but will not produce any sliding movement ofthe bolt b b', and consequently the mere turning of the door-knob willnot unfasten the door, which is thus effectually locked against a personat the outside not having a key until such person is permitted to enterby any one who may operate the circuit-changer and cause the magnet f tobe energized.

The holding-shoulder of the bolt h is set a little at one side of thatof the bolt b', as shown in Figs. 3 and 7, so as to allow a clearancebetween the bolt b and the socket of the strikerplate P, as shown at 20,Fig. '7, thus giving the bolt b greater freedom of movement than thebolt h, so as to insure that it will be thrown wholly forward, so thatt-he arm d2 of the boltholder will be within range of the armature f ofthe controlling-magnet. The same result might be eected by widening thepart of the opening in the striker-plate that cooperates With the boltb', and such construction is regarded as an equivalent for thearrangement of the bolts relative to one another. (Illustrated in Fig.3.)

Locks of this kind are commonly usedin connection with speaking-tubesand call-bells at the dierent iioors of the building oecupied bydifferent persons, and when a person desires to enter the proper signalis sounded, calling the person to the speaking-tube, at which is alsolocated the push-botton or circuit-changer by which the magnet fiscontrolled, so that the person in the building, by operating suchpush-button, will admit the person at the door, who merely has to turnthe usual door-knob, which will throw back the 'bolt h and open thedoor, the bolt b then yielding. The person at the push-button will,however, have to keep the circuit closed until the person at the doorhas entered, and it is consequently desirable that the person at thepush-button should know when the door has been opened. Thisk may beeffected by the means indicated in diagram, Fig. 6, which alsoillustrates the circuit connections employed.

The terminals of the magnetfare connected by wires 2 3, which passthrough the door to the hinged side thereof and are there connected withcontact-plates, which when the door is closed rest againstcorrespondingcontacts 4 5, from which the circuit may be eX- tended tothe various points from which the lock is to be operated. As shown inthis instance, the terminal onthe door-jamb is connected with anothermetallic piece 6, also on the door-jamb and connected, as shown at 7,

Vwithone pole of the battery B, by which the apparatus is operated. Fromthe other pole of said battery a conductor 8 is extended to the variouspoints from which the lock is to be operated, each of which is providedwith a circuit-changer or push-button n, n', and n2. From the terminalaanother wire 9 is also extended to the points from which the lock'is tobe operated, and is connected with another lmember of each of thepush-buttons n, so that when one'of said buttons is operated the wires 8and 9 are connected, closing the circuit ot' the battery Bv through themagnet f andenergizing the same. When the door is opened, this circuit 89 will be broken ate 5, and consequently any indicating-instrumentplaced in said circuit that will be aiected by the presence or absenceof current-such, for example, as an ordinary galvanometer (indicated atp, Fig. 6) .may be employed. A simple circuit-closer having merely twocontacts is then sutcient. For a modified form of indicating-instrumentthe plate 6 may be provided with an insulated contact 10, which istouched by va movable contact 12, connected with the plate 6 when thedoor is opened. The said contact 10 is connected by wire 13 with anindicating-instrument-such, for eX- ample, as a vibrating bell S-fromwhich it continues to a second contact co-operating with thepush-buttons n n. Thus when one of said push-buttons is depressed toclose the circuit of the magnet f between the wires 8 9, as beforedescribed, it also connects the wire IOC:

IIO

8 with the wire 13 through the signal S'; but

said circuit 8 13 is still open at 10 12, so that the signal S is notoperated. As soon, however, asthe door is open the contacts 10 12 areclosed, thus completing the circuit 8 13 10 12 6 7 through theparticularsignal at which the push button is depressed, thus sounding the saidsignal and informing ,the person who is holding the push-button closedthat the door has been opened andthe person there admitted.

An indicator such as describedvwill show at any time to apersonoperatingthe push-button whether or not the door is open, and with theherein-described mechanical controllinglock the door can never beunfastened when closed except While one of the push-buttons is retainedclosed, while with all other locks,4 so far as known to us, the doorwill remain nnfastened after a push-button has been once operated untilsuch time as the door has been opened and again closed, so that if theperson for whom it lwas unfastened should decide not to enter the' doorwould still remain unfastened unless the person who unfastened it Wentto the door and reset the locking mechanism.

We claim- 1. The combination of a lock provided with two bolts with anelectro-magnet and its armature co-operating with one of ySaid bolts and,a knob co-operating with the other of said bolts, the saidmagnet-controlled bolt having clearance between it and the striker-platewhen the knob-controlled bolt is engaged with the striker-plate,substantially as described.

2. The combination of adoor and lock and electro-magnet controlling saidlock with an Witnesses:

Jos. P. LIVERMORE, M. E. HILL.

